[...] Unfortunately, I think the next scenario is also tough for us[...]

That's good news: I doubt any of us axis players wishes to win this tournament (as we will!) the easy way. The tougher, the merrier!!!

True, this is WAR, nothing is ever easy!!! And it is a 3 medal head start, not the 5 of SN Rattenkreig, but only 10 to victory and not 12 as well, so it balances things out for the scenario before. And if Jeronimon is victorious against L91, only a difference of 1 this round, 5-3 in wins, so rather close there as well, 7 more rounds to go!!

We intercepted a message from General Jeronimon to Berlin it states: the Germans attacked in the middle and made good headway. They killed Vasily pretty quick and managed to bombard the hell out of the Barrikady factory. In the tank battle that followed they managed to kill the Russian tanks but at high cost one lonely tank wrecked havoc among the German lines and destroyed men and artillery before getting destroyed itself.

The Germans then marched on the Red October factory and met heavy resistance. The Russians destroyed everything in sight and stopped then Germans completely.

We would guess from the tone of the message the morale of this General has been broken and suggest recruiting him as a double spy, or at least as a source of information.
Awaiting your orders on the matter and God save The Queen!

I had great cards, but Luc trumped me on two fronts. The average was in his favour:
Lucky91 v Jeronimon
53 % v 38% Overall
60% v 42 on infantry and
42% v 30% on tanks
58 v 78 dice thrown

But I feel that I could have overcome, the nail in the coffin was the endless stream of left hand cards that Luc kept producing and so stopping my march on the Red October factory. Looking at my cards I was sure I could get into the factory and maybe even push him out. But he stopped me dead and killed and destroyed 4 units there, which got him a well deserved victory!

Yes, went back and looked at the replay again, counted his dice rolls and saw that, wasn't sure at 1st we he posted the figure and then with your post of only 20 figures left, thought that might have been the case! Serious beginning for him and good thing you had the story of the vodka to back you!!! Well done!

Luc the Lucky 91, congrats on your victory, well worth the wait!! Jeronimon, commiseration to you on your loss and on to Rzhev we go! 6-2 ALLIES this round, 14-12 overall and up to a 4 pt bonus, pass the bottles!!!

Yes, much like with Geoff and his endless stream of right cards against S1812 and Tractor Works, L91 had similar instance against you and ROF, good thing, you were well set up to assault ROF and you did, just not the desired results.

Well fought and on to the next round and match ups, good luck one and all!

I had great cards, but Luc trumped me on two fronts. The average was in his favour:
Lucky91 v Jeronimon
53 % v 38% Overall
60% v 42 on infantry and
42% v 30% on tanks
58 v 78 dice thrown

But I feel that I could have overcome, the nail in the coffin was the endless stream of left hand cards that Luc kept producing and so stopping my march on the Red October factory. Looking at my cards I was sure I could get into the factory and maybe even push him out. But he stopped me dead and killed and destroyed 4 units there, which got him a well deserved victory!

The score 12-8 for Luc

I had better dice than Jeroen and a lot of cards on my left flank to stop his attack .
So , I was very lucky

thanks Jeroen for your fair-play and your patience .

for all the players : sorry to delay the tournament with my problems and thanks for your patience .

JAParker and I met on the snowy battlefield. He was in the middle of a winter storm, while I controlled the German movements from the comfort of my basement. The result was a 10-4 win for Axis, and our side's first 2-point victory.

The Russians started with an interesting strategy: Move Out, removing 3 wires from in front of my two lead infantries. It turned out that the Russians were hoping to Close Assault with up to 4 infantries.) I was able to respond with a 2-2-2, followed by my own Move Out, so after turn the Russians had a dead engineer and two 1-fig infantries in their back row. At this point, the daylight charged forward to visibility of 2 -- where it would remain for the entire remainder of the battle. After my Attack Center on turn 6, both of those infantries were gone, and the fourth of the original Russian attackers was reduced to 2 figures. Score: 6-0.

After a Russian Right card killed my most aggressive infantry, I used a newly drawn 1-1-1 to reduce an infantry and tank to single figures and to remove the river sniper. And after the Russians killed my other aggressive infantry, my Panzerschreck removed the damaged Russian tank on my right. Score: 7-2.

Now the Russians had a problem. They had 3 Right cards and Medics available. An Attack Right sent two infantries and a sniper against the town there, but they scored only one hit in 5d. I Counter-Attacked, advancing my tank and SF infantry, and killing off a 1-fig Russian infantry. Russian Medics restored a weakened infantry to full strength, and it then rolled 2 hits against my defenders in the medal town. (Good vodka.) But my 2-0-2 reinforced my position in the town and brought up reinforcements on my right.

The Russians now got orders Direct from HQ, with which they finished off an infantry and moved into that town, and prepared to launch a counter-offensive. But it was the Germans' Finest Hour. Fine German engineering wiped out the infantry that had moved into town, eliminated the remaining Russian sniper, and damaged two armored units. Score: 9-3.

Though the Russians would eliminate a Panzer on their next turn, A severely damaged two Russian armored units in the center, and a couple of turns later, my Panzers advanced and scored the last necessary kill.

22 turns, 10-4 medals, 33-18 figures, 74-43 dice. The weather was so awful, visibility was still at 2 hexes. Fortunately, we have fresh socks and good beer.

Well done and congrats on your victory as well as garnering the 1st 2 pointer for the AXIS. JAParker, tough loss in the opener of the 4th round, S1812 was just one step ahead and weather at 2 all game, amazing.

Replay a bit strange, each of you had the others cards, but still fun to watch! Nice opening for the AXIS, ALLIES, time to respond and get back on track.

Replay a bit strange, each of you had the others cards, but still fun to watch!

In the SFTF library, the map is built with Axis on the bottom. (LooneyLlama sometimes does that with his scenarios when it reflects the actual orientation of the battle.) However, the Replay always expects Axis to be on top and Allies to be on the bottom, so it places the cards accordingly.

Replay a bit strange, each of you had the others cards, but still fun to watch!

In the SFTF library, the map is built with Axis on the bottom. (LooneyLlama sometimes does that with his scenarios when it reflects the actual orientation of the battle.) However, the Replay always expects Axis to be on top and Allies to be on the bottom, so it places the cards accordingly.

Ah, that clever Looneyllama! Guess I will just turn my screen upside down then! Thx S1812

John started really well and by turn 7 he had already kicked me out from Belyi and killed my anti-tank infantry (3-2 for the allies at that point). Then I played an Armor Assault and killed the game, that simple. Earned 5 medals with one card (3 armor and 2 infantries - got 8 hits vs armor in 12 rolls, IIRC). The replay feature is not working correctly at this point, but from then on I just had to manage the game. Not an enjoyable match for any of us, especially to John, of course.
Dice played a trick on him, although cards were balanced (Direct from HQ, Medics, Armor Assault, BEL, Ambush and at least 1 All-Assault card to him; Barrage, Armor Assault, at least 1 All-Assault and few Recon or Probe cards to me).

John started really well and by turn 7 he had already kicked me out from Belyi and killed my anti-tank infantry (3-2 for the allies at that point). Then I played an Armor Assault and killed the game, that simple. Earned 5 medals with one card (3 armor and 2 infantries - got 8 hits vs armor in 12 rolls, IIRC). The replay feature is not working correctly at this point, but from then on I just had to manage the game. Not an enjoyable match for any of us, especially to John, of course.
Dice played a trick on him, although cards were balanced (Direct from HQ, Medics, Armor Assault, BEL, Ambush and at least 1 All-Assault card to him; Barrage, Armor Assault, at least 1 All-Assault and few Recon or Probe cards to me).

John started really well and by turn 7 he had already kicked me out from Belyi and killed my anti-tank infantry (3-2 for the allies at that point). Then I played an Armor Assault and killed the game, that simple. Earned 5 medals with one card (3 armor and 2 infantries - got 8 hits vs armor in 12 rolls, IIRC). The replay feature is not working correctly at this point, but from then on I just had to manage the game. Not an enjoyable match for any of us, especially to John, of course.
Dice played a trick on him, although cards were balanced (Direct from HQ, Medics, Armor Assault, BEL, Ambush and at least 1 All-Assault card to him; Barrage, Armor Assault, at least 1 All-Assault and few Recon or Probe cards to me).

Hope we will be able to play under more even circumstances next time and you may enjoy the games, John. Anyway, thanks for the games.

Clorofila,

Well done on your victory, another for the AXIS, 3-0 this round, 15-14 for the tournament. TC, tough loss, was looking good as Clorofila stated, 3-2 you, but then a 5 medal turn, game turned and tough to come back from that!!

Looks like a tough one for the ALLIES so far, will have to get a few victories to stem the tide and to hold our own going into the next round.

Should have my match with LooneyLlama come this weekend, hope to change the ALLIES fortunes against him and get us back in the victory column and to seize back the momentum!!

John started really well and by turn 7 he had already kicked me out from Belyi and killed my anti-tank infantry (3-2 for the allies at that point). Then I played an Armor Assault and killed the game, that simple. Earned 5 medals with one card (3 armor and 2 infantries - got 8 hits vs armor in 12 rolls, IIRC). The replay feature is not working correctly at this point, but from then on I just had to manage the game. Not an enjoyable match for any of us, especially to John, of course.
Dice played a trick on him, although cards were balanced (Direct from HQ, Medics, Armor Assault, BEL, Ambush and at least 1 All-Assault card to him; Barrage, Armor Assault, at least 1 All-Assault and few Recon or Probe cards to me).

Hope we will be able to play under more even circumstances next time and you may enjoy the games, John. Anyway, thanks for the games.

Good Game Clorofila, you avenge me!

Not to take away anything from my very skilled opponent but,the dice avenged you.

In my over 1400 games played, I would be hard pressed to rememeber a one where 5 medals were scored in one turn That is a rariety in an Overlord game let alone a regular scenario. It is even rarer when 3 of the units killed were at full strength. While Armor Assault can be a very decisive card, I have seen it bomb out-in one game I watched, 4 tanks were ordered and 32 dice rolled with very little damage against mainly infantry targets. This was worst case scenario for me.

After that turn I was on the slippery slope and that forced me to take chances to try and right the playing field at least a litle bit again. But that is hard to do with probes. I had to use my BEL too soon (I really had some nice plans for that one).

This is not to say that if that card was not drawn by my opponent or the attacks so telling I would have won here. This is a very tough scenario for the Russians and they have little room to allow for mistakes-bad turns-bad cards. If the Germans get the upper hand here it makes it all the tougher. I fear a repeat of Rd 1 results although I do wish my fellow team members the best.

I knew it was just was not my night after we played the rematch. His arty fired off 13 shots and got 9 hits and killed off 2 units-one an infantry in 1 turn.

I targeted the Sniper of my left 13 times (inc 4 with my Sniper) and missed. That sniper would finish off 2 infantry and occupy the town for a medal in the end game. So in essence those 2 units accounted for 5 medals. On my right I missed a 1 fig tank over 2 turns with 3 attacks (5 dice).

End game hit pcts usually do not tell the whole story. It is key results at key times that are more telling. Like in game 1 if my Ambush had rolled a single flag it would have saved 2 of my tanks from elimination.

the % are equal but dice were in my favour in 2 crucial times during the game .
Firs ,after taking Rzhev quickly with engineers , Frederik had a lot of flags so I reinforced my left flank and kept Rzehv all the time .
Second , my artillery killed 6 figures with 100% hit rate so I took Belyi easily.

A tank assault finished the game and Frederik lost Rzhev and his 2 medals .

the % are equal but dice were in my favour in 2 crucial times during the game .
Firs ,after taking Rzhev quickly with engineers , Frederik had a lot of flags so I reinforced my left flank and kept Rzehv all the time .
Second , my artillery killed 6 figures with 100% hit rate so I took Belyi easily.

A tank assault finished the game and Frederik lost Rzhev and his 2 medals .

Axis 3 and Allies 2. Both Sam and Lucky won their 2 point game. I anticipate this round to be a lot closer than you think. The Allies don't have cover but are closer to the medal objectives. They can bring a lot more to the attack much more quickly than the Axis. I don't think either side will have a 4 point advantage after this round.

V V, Congrats on your victory, great patience in working your way to victory, 7 kills each, the difference being you took his 3 medals away! V V, again, your patience is endless, given your position early and taking your time to work your way back into the fight.

Artimon, brave fight put forth, V V just pressured you on 2 fronts and you responded, but he captured Rzhev and Belyi to change the outcome.

I was lucky to kill 2 units.
All cards and all dice to my opponent.
No chance or strategy to use, only look turn after turn a massacre.
2 Assault Center, 1 Their Finest Hour, 1 BEL, 1 Pincer Move, a lot of center cards against nothing, only 2 armor assault that i hadn't the time to play.

A strong start from the Allies under the cover of darkness (we only ever got to value '3' on the night/day scale all game!), meant I was able to get into the 2 towns quickly with Dugrim struggling to respond.

I had a good string of cards to start ... 2-2-2, followed by TFH, followed by an Assault in the centre I believe, which enabled me to advance strongly and pick up the objectives, whilst also forcing Dugrim's forces out, thereby giving me a strong foothold and 'possession' of the middle of the board. I believe this is the best strategy for the Allies in this scenario.

Dugrim seemed to have given hope very early on tho, which was a real shame, (he was urging me to get the game over with at one point), there were still some flailing dice of my own to follow, but he appeared to be struggling with a tough hand of cards, so I met his request and kept advancing up the board. Well what else could a Colonel do !?!

With one medal to go I eventually knocked out his full strength tank unit with my last card, (and not the single infantry unit Dugrim was asking me to, maybe in order to end his torment)?

I don't know if Dugrim was having a bad day in general, but tbh I found his final comment:
'Take out my sgl inf and finish this, "good game" '
followed by a rapid departure at the results screen to be upsetting.

We all get bad dice and cards from time to time, (and looking at the replay Dugrim's weren't actually that bad) but it doesn't take much to be honouring of your opponent after the game, and at the very least, establish who is able to post up the results after the match is finished.

I hope the next time we play, the flavour of text throughout the game might be more positive from my worthy opponent who is a good player from what I can see.

Sorry if I upset you, but:
I was thinking that both players has to post the result, not only one.
I said good game, the "" were for dice and cards, not for you (sorry I had to be more precise, next time I will)

Nothing to say: you had the right cards and you used them well, like a Colonel has to do, with a few dice not scoring a hit.

Sorry again if I upset you, but I was thinking that there was nothing more to say or see on this battle.

Thanks for responding .. you were right the combo of cards for/against each other were definately favoured to my advantage ... hopefully a future game will give us both a closer battle

JK2010,

Nice victory and good use of the cards to advance under the "cover of darkness" as you stated and earn another point for the ALLIES, 4-3 this round, at worst they only get a 2 pt bonus next scenario and less pressure on me and my encounter with Looney tomorrow!!!

Getting daylight only to 3 can put a serious damper on attack plans obviously, but you used it to good advantage, made Dugrim retreat and took possession of both Rzhev and Belyi and with the range of only 3 all game, tough for him to move up and attack without also putting himself in the open.

Cards were not all bad for him, you just had the better of both cards and dice and like any good player, used them to your advantage and gained the victory.

Dugrim,

Tough day at the office, obviously, 6 more scenarios to go and things will turn once again in your favor in a few of them. Still, 2-2 after 4 rounds for you, a respectable showing, the last 2 scenarios didn't go your way, but as JK2010 stated, you are good player and from having "practiced" against you twice it has shown.

Looney stated it was a difficult scenario for the AXIS and the last few matches have made him a PROPHET, he would know having designed the scenario!!!

ALLIES, continue to push and hope to hold up my end of the bargain tomorrow against LooneyLlama!!

Regardless of the people involved, I would like to state that a friendly tone, basic communication standards and honoring your opponent at the end of the battle are key issues to me and the way I face this or any other game. Eric's tournaments have been running smoothly, with a most friendly environment, regardless of the scores or unbalances, I hope this one will be no exception.

So, I urge you all to keep calm, civilized and friendly throughout the matches and afterwards. Remember that your opponent is not responsible for your bad day, bad luck or emotional lack of control - things that we all experience at some point. He is just trying to win the game, like yourself.

Also, remember: even if you are abrupt and have no wish to be nice to your opponent because things did not go your way, you will always have the chance to make it right the day after, when the emotions are running lower and social skills a bit higher

Dugrim: don't worry mate, the competition is still on its first half, you'll have plenty of opportunities to show your real value as a player. Just stay strong and hang in there!

Well stated, I happened to luck in at the tail end of the Med tourney and have continued here in The Eastern one, great fun, excellent scenarios, very good players, a good test of one's abilities, win some, lose some, but has been ALL FUN!

As you mentioned, still more than 1/2 to go and plenty of chances to prove ourselves win or lose, even in losing I usually find my opponents remarks hilarious, a bunch of funny guys as well a helpful, gotten my fair share of tips, best one yet, "If you want to win, don't die!"

On a cold January morning the Russians advanced on Rhzev and Belyi under cover of the night. The Russians dug in their positions and started maneuvering troops to start an offensive on either Rhzev or Belyi. In the mean while the Germans moved some engineers into the ruins of Belyi and in the woods to the west of Belyi we tried to get that nasty Russian sniper, but it was to dark.

When suddenly the sun sprang above the horizon we saw clearly and shot the sniper in the forest, the anti tank unit flagged the sniper on the river to death and we managed to wound a dug in inf. 3 for 3 and both Russian snipers gone, a good start!

After some further maneuvering the Russians started an advance on Rhzev from over the Vazuza River. Needless to say our superior German troops nipped that attack in the bud. Killing an infantry and destroying a tank unit. The score 6-1 in my favor.

He Russians then mounted a massive offensive against Belyi, after some hard urban combat in and around town the weakened engineers still stood, but the other infantry had been killed. We took a tank unit in return and there were two Russian infantries just outside Belyi afraid to go in and meet the engineers.

We exchanged some shots on the Rhzev wing and I think the big turn was my counter attack on a firefight. Helcat managed to get 3 hits out of 9 dice but not kill anything. I managed 5 hits out of 10 and the killing of three infantries the score: 9-1 for me.

Helcat managed to kill my one figure engineer in Belyi thus also making me loose the objective medal. But the next and last turn I sent my special forces into Belyi for the objective and my sniper expertly shot a lonely one figure infantry on the back row. 10-2 the endscore, and another fine German victory!

Helcat had an armor assault the whole game that he could not use because he never got to a good position with enough tank units. We both had our fair share of recons and probes, admittedly Helcat got more of that in the beginning.

Both the match and the rematch were very enjoyable matches against my fellow countryman. We hope to have many return battles against each other.

Congrats on winning the Battle of the Flying Dutchmen! Excellent victory and thanks for the vivid account of the action, so much so I was able to follow every move in my minds eye and didn't have to bother with the replay! As if I was a chess genius!

SAC Helcat,

Commiserations on your loss, nothing went your way and he countered all you BIG moves and had every answer. On to the next one and hope the Winter lets up!

4-4 on the round, 18-16, overall, have my match with Looney set for 3 or so hours from now. Victory and no worse that a tie or each side will get a 2 pt bonus with 2 victories, fingers crossed, but not with my trigger finger!

Hard luck to our leader Helcat for the result, but it looks as tho Gonzalan has a chance to rectify the situation quickly .... good luck on the wintry wastes ... !

JK2010,

In short, yes, situation rectified, but not without a tough fight from LooneyLlama, a 25 turn, 40 minute battle, 10-7 ALLIES, a 5-4 lead and a chance for Geoff to get us a 2 pt bonus or JJ's Naut gets the AXIS a tie and no bonus for either side!

Will give full details in the morning, early to bed here in Colorado!!

@Geoff,

Good luck tomorrow night and we are hungry for some bacon, bring it home!